Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is her Department's Debt Management's policy to include full details of relevant debt in (a) email and (b) other written correspondence advising individuals of the debt.

All benefit overpayments are notified to claimants. The notification sets out why the overpayment occurred, the amount overpaid and the period of overpayment, along with the debtor’s appeal rights. For other claimant liabilities, such as advances and loans, the amount to be paid and repayment terms are agreed in advance.

Once any debts or other liabilities are transferred to Debt Management for recovery, any notifications will typically show the current overall balance outstanding for all debts and liabilities, rather than listing individual debts.

We are currently developing an on-line service whereby individuals are able to go and view their outstanding balances. A number of claimants are already accessing this service.